In The Gyms of Holmes County, Matt Tullis explains that, "In Holmes County, they get this idea of teamwork. And it starts with the Amish and Mennonite communities that call the county home." In Higher Education, Gary Smith writes, "Berlin's new basketball coach, the man with the most important position in a community that had dug in its heels against change, was an unmarried black Catholic loser. The only black man in eastern Holmes County."
posted by MoonOrb
on Mar 1, 2016 -
2 comments

Longform sports news and commentary website SB Nation, one of the websites under the Vox Media banner, has developed a reputation as being a location for well written and thoughtful commentary on not just sports, but society as well. Which is why it was surprising when they wound up publishing a disastrous longform article about former cop and convicted rapist Daniel Holtzclaw that wound up being little more than a racially charged hagiography. [more inside]
posted by NoxAeternum
on Feb 18, 2016 -
94 comments

"Jenny Who’s Been Around the Block had six seats, hard fiberglass benches that we’d padded with yoga-type mats, and there were eight of us to fill them. Carmen was in the bow, with a narrow bench to herself, and a second Carmen alone behind her. Then came Anna and Syd, on a wide middle bench, and Jacqueline and me behind them. Cristi, alone in the second-to-last seat, and Vanessa, in the stern, rounded out the lineup... Jacqueline, by coincidence, was my closest friend in the boat, and we had joked that sharing a canoe bench for 50 or 60 hours was likely to make or break the relationship." By Eva Holland for SB Nation
posted by valkane
on Aug 13, 2015 -
10 comments

BILL BELICHICK OFFSEASON SIMULATOR. "This must be emphasized from the outset: The Bill Belichick Offseason Simulator is a tool, and not a toy. It does not exist to amuse you. It is meant to train prospective football coaches in the art and science of managing the travails of the offseason. Any fun you may have, or amusement you may find, while piloting this simulator is purely accidental, and should be reported as a software bug." (From Jon Bois, in case it's not immediately apparent.)
posted by kmz
on Mar 31, 2015 -
20 comments

"What was his weapon? Trust. Over and over again, he shook the hand of a parent and said, 'It's OK. I'll take care of them. I'll make her a better person.' Instead what he did was rob them of their innocence and change the scope of their lives."

It's easy to explain why you love a conventionally excellent player, but way, way more fun to try and explain the appeal of a top-flight athlete whose every step and twitch appeared to be bringing him dangerously close to death itself. You had this guy, St. Louis, and he was awesome and everything, but every time he hit a triple he'd pop up and have the saddest look on his face like everything he loved had died, and left him with the soul of an ancient, sad, and immortal Golem. It was like watching Buster Keaton play centerfield, and he was like that every time he played.

One of the oldest sayings in boxing, the first warning every aspiring fighter hears long before they've ever entered a ring, is that the most dangerous punch, the one to fear most, is the one you never see coming. While the cliché is certainly true at the start of a career, it rarely holds up toward the end. This is because almost none of the great fighters in history ever stopped after that punch — and the history of the sport suggests that few can ever escape it. Manny Pacquiao, despite earning a reported $174 million since 2009 from boxing and endorsements deals, is no different. Why? Because, of course, boxing's not so well kept dirty secret is that, financially, most fighters can never stop. Requiem for a Welterweight.
posted by Ghostride The Whip
on Nov 20, 2013 -
17 comments

It's the ultimate gamble. If the young man is successful, he comes home a hero, and becomes important. His life has meaning and purpose. But in order to succeed, he must first completely open up his soul to the consequences of failure, knowing there may be no way back out. This, above all else, is the hardest thing to do. 20 Minutes at Rucker Park.
posted by Ghostride The Whip
on Oct 16, 2013 -
21 comments

Having already taken on the dreaded Temple Run, Jon Bois turns his nostalgic criticism to Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego and the nearly-impossible Africa Map.
posted by Navelgazer
on Apr 4, 2013 -
19 comments

An interview with Bennett Foddy, the creator of QWOP, in which, to the surprise of no one, he states, "I don't feel any sympathy for people who find a video game hard. At all. It never occurred to me to try to modify QWOP so that it was easier to play." [more inside]
posted by Copronymus
on Oct 8, 2012 -
44 comments

Time to make the logos. Take 300, yes 300, fan blogs with all kinds of inconsistent, homemade, clip-art, crappy logos and re-design ALL of them to be consistent with one over-arching look and feel. Oh... and do it in 7 weeks. [more inside]
posted by pixlboi
on Sep 24, 2012 -
28 comments

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